SHUM-STÄTTEN
The ShUM is the name given to the association that the Jewish communities of the Upper Rhine cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz formed in the Middle Ages.
The ShUM (also: SHUM (Hebrew שו״מ )) is the name given to the association that the Jewish communities of the Upper Rhine cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz formed in the Middle Ages. In Hebrew sources, the three communities have been referred to as Kehillot (communities) Spira Warmaisa Magenza or simply “the communities” since the 12th century.
ShUM, with Mainz as the mother community, became a special association that certainly emphasized its outstanding position in Ashkenaz. The association influenced the architecture of synagogues and mikvaot, profoundly shaping the culture, religious trends and halachic jurisprudence of the Central and Eastern European Jewish diaspora. To this day, synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and ritual baths, together with religious tradition, bear witness to the immense importance of the ShUM cities. The reputation of the communities has remained unbroken in the Jewish world since the Middle Ages.
The importance and majesty of the medieval communities in ShUM are reflected in the archaeologically proven or rebuilt buildings as well as religious practical traditions that have been preserved to this day.
The Jewish heritage in these cities on the Rhine is unique, known worldwide and a living part of Ashkenazi Judaism.
Structurally, this heritage includes the Judenhof community center ensemble in Speyer with mikveh, synagogue, women's school, synagogue courtyard and yeshiva, and in Worms the synagogue district community center ensemble with synagogue, women's school, Jewish council room with vestibule to the women's school, "Rashi Yeshiva", synagogue courtyard, mikveh and the medieval foundations of the former community center (today Rashi House with Jewish Museum, city archives and lower monument preservation) as well as the old Jewish cemetery “Holy Sand”. In Mainz it is the memorial cemetery in the old Jewish cemetery “on the Judensand”.
In order to give this heritage global recognition, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, together with the three cities and the Jewish communities in Mainz and Speyer as well as the State Association of Jewish Communities of Rhineland-Palatinate, has been committed since 2004 to ensuring that the SchUM sites are declared a UNESCO world cultural heritage site to be appointed. (Source: Wikipedia)